Until the Next Kiss
by SingerMe
Summary: This was written as an answer to a challenge. Not as good as some and not as bad as others.


**Until The Next Kiss**

I don't own these characters. I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.

**XOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

Matt stood up from his desk and stretched. He'd worked hard on getting all of his paperwork done by 6 pm and he'd just barely made it. Now, all he had left to do was get ready for the evening. Although he didn't have a deputy, per se, he did have Chester and Chester had promised to watch things in town for the night.

Smiling, he thought about the cause of his unheard of night off. Bright red hair, big blue eyes and the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen. Kitty Russell hadn't been in town long but already she'd found a spot in his long boarded over heart, knocked down the barriers and moved in.

Though officially, they were nothing more than friendly acquaintances, he knew it wouldn't stay that way, or at least he hoped it wouldn't. She was indeed one of a kind and he was looking forward to the night. Maybe, they'd even kiss. That step was a big one for the big man. He'd patted her on the arm a time or two but they'd never kissed. At least not yet.

They'd only known each other a few months, but he hoped that tonight would be the beginning of something more. He knew he couldn't marry her and he wasn't even sure if, they did have 'something more', that he wanted anyone to know about it. Any woman close to him was also a target. But regardless of that, he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he did want a relationship with her. All the rest, they'd figure out together.

"Mister Dillon!" Chester's clarion call could heard down the street as he came hurrying into jail.

"What is it, Chester?" Matt asked as he laid his hand on his hat, ready to leave.

"Oh, nothing in particular. I just brung ya those cartridges you ordered from Mr. Jonas. He saw me a coming down here and asked would I bring it to ya." Chester smiled cheerfully.

"Oh, well, thanks." Matt nodded towards the rifle rack. "Put them up there if ya would, Chester. I'm heading out."

"You, uh, got big plans for the night, do ya?" He grinned. Mister Dillon hadn't given him any details of his upcoming night off, but he suspected his boss would probably be spending some time with Miss Kitty. He wasn't the brightest when it came to romance, but he could tell when a feller liked a girl.

"Why?" Matt frowned at him. "You promised me you could watch things tonight."

"Oh, I can, I can." Chester nodded enthusiastically. "I was just wonderin', is all."

"Well, don't wonder." Matt answered as he grabbed his hat and headed out. He had just one hour to get to Teeter's barber shop, get a bath and a haircut and then get back to his room at Ma Smalley's to get dressed. He couldn't waste time.

The bath went quickly, and though Mr. Teeter talked a little more than Matt liked, while he cut hair, he did at least cut his hair. Looking at the clock on Teeter's wall, Matt saw he had half an hour to get dressed and then present himself at the Long Branch, where Kitty promised to be waiting.

Striding quickly down the street, Matt made it to his room in record time. Now all he had to do was get dressed and he could meet Kitty.

But he'd no sooner put on a clean union suit, changed his pants and shirt and put on his boots, when someone knocked. He came close to telling them to go away, but the ever conscientious lawman considered the idea that it might be important, something Chester couldn't handle. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door to find Doc standing there with a frown on his face. "Doc? What's wrong? How'd you know I was here? "

"It's that moocher you have helping you at the jail." Doc answered as he pushed his way into the room. "He told me right before he… Do you know what he did?"

"No, and I don't care." Matt said with no small amount of exasperation. "I'm kind of busy here, Doc."

"Busy?" Doc knitted his thick brows together. "Busy doing what?"

"Busy minding my own business, which is something you should try." Matt answered just as another knock came at the door. With shake of his head, he stepped to the door to find Moss standing there. "Moss? What… what are you doing here?"

"Sorry to bother you, Marshal. Hope you don't mind me coming to your room like this but I saw you heading in this direction and I wanted to tell you about the buggy you wanted." He paused when he saw Matt was dressed in his best pants and shirt. "Say. Where you goin' that ya dress up like that?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Doc answered from behind Matt.

"That is none of your business." Matt cast a glare in Doc's direction. "And, Moss, what about the buggy?"

"Oh, yeah." Moss shook his head. "Sorry, I get kind of forgetful. Well, I just wanted to say…"

"Well, now wait a minute." Doc interrupted. "I was here first."

"I don't care." Matt snapped at him. "Now, Moss, what did…"

Just then another knock came at the door. Taking a deep breath, Matt grabbed the door knob and opened it to find Chester practically hopping up and down. "Mister Dillon, did Doc…" He saw Doc standing behind Matt and quickly entered the room. "I mighta knowd you'd come over here." He turned back to Matt. "Mister Dillon, you just cain't believe a word Doc says. I'm tellin' ya true now."

"Now, you just wait one minute, Chester." Doc raged. "For your information…"

"You ain't got to tell me nothing for my information, Doc. You ain't got to." Chester fumed at the physician.

Matt stood listening to them argue. He knew he'd stand no chance of interrupting them. They were too deep into it.

"They sure do like to bicker, don't they, Marshal." Moss said as he stood listening to them alongside Matt.

"Yeah." Matt sighed thinking he'd had just enough of this. "Doc! Chester!" He spoke loudly and harshly but even that didn't stop them. "DOC!" He tried again but Doc only gave him a cursory glance as he warmed up to the ongoing argument with Chester.

Just then another knock came at the door. "Come in!" Matt yelled louder than he meant to.

"Marshal?" Ma opened the door and came in. "I can hear the noise from this room all over the house. What in the world is going on here?"

"Ask them." Matt jerked a thumb in Doc and Chester's direction.

"Now, Doc, you know that ain't true." Chester protested. "I didn't never do that. All I done was to ask you if'n you'd eat yet today. I wasn't askin' you not once for no money."

"Money?" Ma put in. "Why, Chester? Are you saying you're broke?"

"Yes, he's broke." Doc answered for him. "And he came around trying to mooch a meal out of me."

"I never did, Doc." Chester repeated.

"Why, Chester." Moss put in. "Why didn't ya come to me if ya needed some money? I'd a loaned you some."

Matt rolled his eyes. He'd had about enough of all of them.

"Now, Chester, you don't need to borrow money." Ma spoke up. "Why, I'll fix you something to eat if you're hungry. You don't need to put yourself in debt."

"Well, I wasn't going to put him into debt." Moss protested. "I just offered to loan him some money."

"You'd a never gotten it back." Doc chortled.

"He would too." Chester retorted.

Matt was about to bodily pick them all up and toss them from his room when another knock came at his door. Angrily, he jerked the door open to find a puzzled looking Kitty standing there.

"Matt? I've been waiting and when you didn't come I…"

Before she could finish, Matt grabbed his hat and jacket and hastily pushed her from the room. "Shush." He placed a finger on his lips and quickly led her from the entryway to his room and out of the house. "Come on." He urged as he took the hand of the mystified red head and hurried them down the alley.

"What's going on?" Kitty asked as he hurried her along. "Matt, stop. What's this about?"

"It's about getting away while we can." Matt answered as he continued on, pulling her along by the hand behind him.

An hour later, Kitty sat snuggled next to Matt in the buggy that he had found waiting in front of the stable. He figured that must've been why Moss came to his room, to tell him it was ready.

"They were really fighting, huh?" Kitty chuckled again, thinking about the scene Matt had described for her in his room.

"Yeah, I'm not sure a tornado could've gotten their attention enough to interrupt them." He laughed with her. "Anyway, I was about to physically pick them all up and toss em out when you arrived. I figured it safer for us to leave and let them stay there and argue."

"Probably a good plan." She smiled up at him, straight into his beautiful blue eyes.

"Well, not as good as this one." He returned the smile and easily moved his arm, wrapping it around her shoulders, pulling her in close.

"Oh, I like this plan, Marshal." She sighed happily.

For another half hour, the two just drove, letting the horse pick the path and making little effort to direct its way other than to keep it on the road and away from its home stall in town.

"It sure is beautiful tonight." Kitty said as she looked out around them and then back up at Matt.

"It sure is." Matt agreed as he looked down into the most beautiful face he'd ever seen. For a second, their gazes held and inexorably they moved closer and closer until their lips met.

Soft at first, the kiss became deeper and more passionate and all the nights of longing, each for the other, was put into the simple act of his lips on hers. Though their eyes were closed, both swore they saw fireworks and felt the earth quake beneath them as their hearts pounded furiously and they clung desperately one to the other. For those few seconds, the world stilled and everything centered on the meeting of their lips and their souls.

Neither wanted it to end, but finally realizing the need to breath, they pulled apart.

"Wow." Kitty took a deep breath.

"That's what I say." Matt grinned as he moved in for another. But no sooner did their lips touch, then they heard a rider coming fast in their direction.

"Mr. Dillon!"

Matt closed his eyes in frustration as Chester reached them and pulled up alongside the buggy. "What?!" He growled.

"Well, I've been looking fer ya." Chester whined. "It's about this here buggy."

"What about it?" Matt's glare was intense and Kitty gently laid a hand on his arm to calm him.

"Something wrong with the buggy, Chester?" She asked when she saw the young man pale under Matt's scowl.

"Well, yeah." Chester answered. "Moss had this here buggy rented out to Mr. Dalrymple down at the hotel. That's why he come to your room, ya see. He was gonna tell ya about it. Lord, Mr. Dillon, I've been lookin' all over for ya. It that moon hadn't a been so bright, I might never a found you. What in the world was ya doing way out here? This is a ways out."

For the first time, Matt cursed the full moon and the warm weather and most of all, his assistant.

"Ya know, if'n you hadn't a been in such a hurry, we could've…"

"Alright, Chester." Matt's voice was loud and irritated and instantly Chester stopped. "Go on back to town and tell Moss we're on our way back."

"Well, I'll just ride along with you all." Chester declared.

"**No, You Will Not."** Matt emphasized each word and the look on his face convinced his assistant not to press.

"Yes, Sir. See ya back in Dodge." Quickly, Chester turned his horse and headed back to town.

Matt took a deep breath to calm himself while Kitty sat beside him chuckling. "What in the world is so funny?" He frowned at her.

"This." Kitty answered. "This situation, Chester, the whole thing. Here we thought…" She collapsed into giggles again before she saw the expression on Matt's face and sobered a little. "I'm sorry, Matt. I know, it's exasperating but at least we got in one kiss before he showed up."

Matt looked behind him, making sure Chester was nowhere in sight and then pulled Kitty back to him. The kiss was nowhere near as explosive as the first but it was just as sweet and promised that there would be many more after that. "Two." He declared as he turned the buggy around and headed back to town.

When Matt returned to town, he pulled the buggy up in front of the Long Branch, letting Kitty out first before returning the sort of stolen conveyance to the stable and making his apologies to Moss.

"It's alright, Marshal." Moss shook his head. "When I realized you'd taken the wrong buggy, I just went ahead and hitched up the other for Mr. Dalrymple. You didn't have to rush back. Didn't Chester tell you? You could've kept the buggy as long as you wanted."

Matt clenched his teeth and his fists tightly. "No. He didn't." He said through gritted teeth as he turned and stomped down the street to the jail.

"It's a good thing." Matt thought when he came in and found Chester wasn't there. "Or I would have to lock myself up."

For several seconds, he stood indecisively by his desk. It was way earlier than he'd planned on ending his evening, and yet it was too late to go get the buggy and Kitty and try again. Stepping over to the stove he found the coffee pot cold and empty. That decided it. He could at least have a drink with Kitty; that is if she hadn't already retired.

But as he turned back towards the door, he found he didn't have to go to her, she had come to him. "Matt?" She said as she slipped into the dimly lit jail. "Chester's over at the Long Branch drinking a beer and trying to get into a game. I thought maybe we could talk about what happened."

"What happened was Chester flew off the track and came and got us when he didn't have to and shouldn't have." Matt grumped.

"What?" Kitty crinkled her brow. "What do you mean? He said…"

"Yeah, he said we took Mr. Dalrymple's buggy. But what he didn't say was that Moss gave the one we were supposed to get to Dalrymple. I tell you what, when I…"

"Oh, Matt." Kitty started laughing.

"I don't see anything funny." Matt shook his in consternation.

"I'm sorry, Matt, honestly. But it is funny in a way, and maddening and sort of scary."

Matt looked up at that. "Scary?" He hadn't wanted to scare her. "How?"

"We started something out there, Matt. Something wonderful and exciting but also something we might not be able to stop if we're not careful."

Matt swallowed hard. "Do you want to stop it?" His heart was beating heavily in his throat waiting for her answer.

Kitty shook her head. "I don't. But what about you? You said you didn't want to get married or…"

"It's not that I don't want to, Kitty." He stopped her. "I just can't. Not right now. It's…"

"Matt." She grabbed his arm tightly. "I'm not demanding that of you. I understand your feelings about it. But I don't want to lose the connection we made out there tonight. Do you? Do you want to go back to the way it was? Just friends?"

Matt instantly shook his head. "No. Not now, I don't."

Kitty smiled and stepped closer to him. "Then kiss me, Mr. Dillon. And make it count."

Tenderly, Matt bent down and pulled her close, kissing her soundly and breathlessly. "Will that do, Miss Russell?" He asked.

"Until the next kiss, Marshal Dillon." She laughed. "Only until then."

The End.


End file.
